A Couple Of Snarky Snippets

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Global Issues, guns, Law and justice, Social commentary

I went in search of some actual news stories that didn’t have the words “Tucker Carlson” in them, and I found a couple that raised my hackles, to say the least …

Someone dropped the ball

Yesterday I read a couple of articles about the ‘leaker’ of military secrets, Jack Teixeira.  It seems this young man has been nothing but trouble for quite some time, which leads me to ask a few questions, such as how did he even get into the Massachusetts Air National Guard to begin with, and how did he come to have access to such highly sensitive information?  Does the military not screen applicants?  If they did, and if they had standards of any sort, this lad would have been rejected.

Just a few things from his background that I would have thought should have been considered …

  • He was suspended from high school in 2018 for alarming comments about the use of Molotov cocktails and other weapons.
  • He trawled the internet for information about mass shootings. He engaged in “regular discussions about violence and murder” on Discord, the social media platform that he used to post the classified information.
  • He surrounded his bed at his parents’ house with firearms and tactical gear.
  • He was known to frequently make racial threats.

These are all red flags, and with the possible exception of the firearms surrounding his bed, should have and could have been known by the higher-ups in the Air National Guard before accepting him into the program.  His leaking of sensitive information is indeed a serious matter, but I think the more serious issue here is that the military seems to be quite sloppy in its hiring practices as well as its determination about who has access to classified information.  A 21-year-old airman with the National Guard who has a history of guns, violence, and racism has absolutely NO BUSINESS being anywhere near top secret data!

The defense being offered up by Teixeira’s lawyers appears to be that there is no evidence he intended the information posted to a private social media server “to be widely disseminated.”  BULLSHIT!  It doesn’t matter whether he intended it or not, everyone with half a brain cell knows that once you put something on social media it is available for public view.  Period.  I would like to see Teixeira sent to prison for a very long time, but more to the point, I would like to see the military learn from this and tighten their ship!

Teachers’ hazardous duty pay?

You remember back in January when a six-year-old child shot his teacher in Newport News, Virginia?  The teacher, Abigail Zwerner, sustained life-threatening injuries.  It turns out that teachers and others had given warning to school administrators that the boy had a gun in his possession, and administrators did search him but found no gun and took no further action.  And then … BANG!!!!

Ms. Zwerner has filed a lawsuit against the school district, alleging negligence and reckless disregard on the part of the school district.  Now here’s the real kicker … on Wednesday, the school district asked that the lawsuit be dismissed by the courts, claiming that she has no case because … wait for it … being shot by a first-grader is, essentially, a risk that all teachers take.

And the school board goes on to say that because the student had a history of violent behavior toward students and teachers, Zwerner should have been aware of the possibility she could be shot. If this is what our nation is coming to, if we are willing tell teachers that being shot is just a routine part of the job hazards they can reasonably expect to face, then we are more f*cked up than even I thought.

I cannot imagine a scenario where the school district can win this case based on such a ridiculous argument, but then … it is 2023 and there are many things happening in our world today that I would have said were impossible a decade ago.  Be advised, though, that if the school district has their way on this one, schools around the nation will find it much harder to hire qualified teachers and they will be forced to pay hazardous duty pay, as well!

25 thoughts on “A Couple Of Snarky Snippets”

  2. Maybe it will soon become mandatory for teachers to provide their own body armour, helmets and sidearms. This is certainly becoming more crazy every day as first grader kids are obviously acting out what their parents would do.

    Liked by 1 person

    • It is indeed becoming crazier by the day, and nothing would surprise me anymore. I’m glad I no longer have school-age children! That 6-year-old child who shot the teacher had a history of emotional problems, so WHY would the mother leave a loaded gun just lying around the house??? 🙄

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  3. I’m sorry, but WTF! Never should a teacher expect to be shot by anyone in school, especially a 6 year old. I agree, what is this world coming to if that is an allowable defense.

    Liked by 1 person

    • No need to apologize … I said the exact same thing when I first read about this! Teacher’s are among the most underpaid professionals in this nation, and yet now we expect them to also accept the risk of being shot as part of their job??? I don’t think that defense will be allowable, but then … times are changing! If it does pass muster, you can bet a lot of people will be reconsidering their career path!

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Just think of Warren Zevon’s song “Excitable Boy” and picture a hand gun accessible. “He didn’t mean to shoot her, he’s just an excitable boy.” New airport signs, “Welcome to America, the new frontier. We hope you are packing.” Keith

    Liked by 1 person

  8. What a messed up world this is when teachers should be aware that a first grader might shoot them. I hope every teacher in that district will boycott the schools if that lawsuit is dismissed because the school board is filled with idiots. Make the board members do the teaching if they feel that way and see how many actually show up for work while the real teachers are watching them enter the schools to take their places. I’m sure glad I won’ have that Many years left to hear about all of this stupidity involving the people who are going to be leading the school systems into armed camps of teachers against students with guns. And for heavens sake, why wasn’t that gun locked up in a case and on the top shelf that the kid couldn’t get to? Those parents could very well be the next ones he decides to shoot!

    As for the release of secrets, it’s scary that he was able to get to them. Three of my brothers and one sister all served in the military and they were screened by the FBI as well as military police before being admitted, but that was 50 years ago. Now it seems as if there are no police checks being conducted by any business or even a lot of the nursing homes (including my former residence). I think they did a police check on me when I got my first job working in a department store. Nobody seems to care who is hired now as long as they don’t have to pay them much to do the job.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Definitely so. No teacher should have to spend her day searching backpacks and looking out the corner of her eye for a kid with a gun. They are there to TEACH our children! They did finally charge the mother for not having the gun secured where the child couldn’t get hold of it, but I doubt she’ll go to prison … probably just get a slap on the wrist.

      I still don’t understand … nor, apparently, do the higher ups … how the punk got the security clearance he had. I suspect there will be some shakeup over this mess … it’s already started, as they have suspended two of the officers of his unit.

      Liked by 1 person

      • We may never know how he got on that base to begin with, but it had to have started before he arrived. My brother always had to carry his name printer and the most sensitive files with him in a locked case that was handcuffed to his wrist. After he got home he could lock it up in the safe there, but his files were never left where anyone else could get access to them. But that was a lot of years ago after he had been extensively investigated before he received that last assignment and was called back as a civilian employee to continue the job after his first retirement from the AF.

        Glad they charged the mother but you are right, it will only be a slap on the wrist. After all, she still has to raise her son and any more kids she might have. Raise them to be killers, but still, how else will our future terrorists ever learn their trade if their mothers aren’t there to teach them Oh, I forgot. That’s the teachers job now. Who needs books when we have these wonderful board members telling our kids it’s okay to shoot the teacher. He/she should have known all about being your target if you get ticked off about them. GROANNNNNNNNNNNN
        A

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  9. That just showed, how the, morale in the military personnel had, slipped down that, slippery, slope in the U.S., as for the matter of, gun control, I believe, that a gun control bill will, not make it through the, rough drafts, until, the families, or the members of the, Republican Party, get shot and, injured, or, died in the numbers…

    Liked by 1 person

    • I’m inclined to agree with you that no serious gun bills will pass through Congress until they lose one of their own. Even then, I’m not sure they are intelligent to make the connection. Sigh.

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  10. Who would want to teach if the situation has come to that?

    I also got the thought right away that someone must wanted those secrets released. Maybe the guy even got paid for it. By whom? There is a wide range of possibilities, but an inside job is not entirely impossible, is it?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Exactly! They’ll find it hard to get qualified teachers, especially for the meager salary they pay!

      I think we’ll just have to wait and see on that one. I’m not jumping to any conclusions as yet, for it appears that this young punk acted on his own for his own selfish reasons. If others were involved, I strongly suspect he would have outed them by now, but as I said, let’s wait and see.

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  12. Teachers should expect to be shot? Maybe by angry parents (if anyone!) but who sends their kids to school with a gun?
    “Mommy, I want to shoot my teacher today. Can I have daddy’s gun please?”
    “Sure, Johnny Let me load it for you. And remember, aim for the heart. It’s a big target. You will hit something!”

    The army hiring kooks? Not unusual. Bullies and nutcases make the best soldiers. But letting him work at a super-high-risk job? Maybe he is a fall guy for someone who wanted those secrets released, but they were too smart to do it themselves? Who put this guy in that position? Investigate him, or her!

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    • As I recall, it took them a while, but they finally did charge the child’s mother for carelessly leaving the loaded gun where her son could find it. The kid has a history of emotional problems and is most likely a victim of FASD (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disease), which should have been all the more reason for the mother to not even HAVE a gun in the house.

      I read today that the two leaders of the punk’s unit have been suspended and they are “looking into” how he managed to get the security clearance to have access to such highly classified information.

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